Method and apparatus for regenerating breadcrumbs

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for providing an incentive to an officer to travel through a particular area is provide herein. During operation a device will provide an officer with a map of their patrol area. Along with the map, various roads and/or paths will have “breadcrumbs” shown on them. These breadcrumbs will be “picked up” (disappear) when an officer travels over them.

RELATED CASES

The present invention is related to patent application Ser. No.15/057,173, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING AN INCENTIVE TOTRAVEL WITHIN A PARTICULAR AREA filed on the same date as the presentpatent application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to providing incentive to travelwithin a particular area, and more particularly to a method andapparatus for using “breadcrumbs” to provide an incentive to travelwithin the particular area.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Patrol officers can have, “downtime” in between assigned calls wherethey have an opportunity to be proactive in detecting crime. During thisdowntime, the officers will often drive by high-crime areas. Sincesimply driving around high-crime areas can be perceived as tedious orboring, oftentimes driving by these areas is neglected. However, it isproven that when high-crime areas are patrolled effectively, there is adecrease in crime rate within that area. Since patrol officers oftenchoose their own areas to patrol during downtime, a need exists for amethod and apparatus for providing an incentive to travel within certainareas so that crime rates can be reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying figures where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separateviews, and which together with the detailed description below areincorporated in and form part of the specification, serve to furtherillustrate various embodiments and to explain various principles andadvantages all in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a general operating environment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a graphical-user interface displaying a map withbreadcrumbs.

FIG. 3 illustrates breadcrumbs picked up as an officer travels nearthem.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a breadcrumb generator.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a display device.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing operation of the breadcrumb generator ofFIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing operation of the display device of FIG.5.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures areillustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily beendrawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioningof some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative toother elements to help to improve understanding of various embodimentsof the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements thatare useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are oftennot depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of thesevarious embodiments of the present invention. It will further beappreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described ordepicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in theart will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence isnot actually required.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to address the above mentioned need, a method and apparatus forproviding an incentive to an officer to travel through a particular areais provide herein. During operation a device will provide an officerwith a map of their patrol area. Along with the map, various roadsand/or paths will have “breadcrumbs” shown on them. These breadcrumbswill be “picked up” (disappear) when an officer travels over or nearthem.

The above provides for a system and user interface to incentivize theofficer through designated areas with a patrol zone. The breadcrumbs maybe placed based on recent crime data. The user interface will lay downcrime-based “breadcrumbs” to signify to the officer a system-determinedneed to patrol down certain roads and check certain locations. Once theofficer has driven past the designated roads (determined via GPS), thebreadcrumbs disappear from the displayed map.

Throughout the officer's shift, the breadcrumbs may regenerate atdifferent rates/intervals based on historic crime activity and/orcommander-designated regeneration times for a particular area. Theseareas may also be assigned a priority (for example, by having differenttypes of breadcrumbs) and determine how many times during a shift theuser should patrol these routes and particular areas. For example, afirst breadcrumb may regenerate after a first time period (e.g., 1 hour)and a second breadcrumb may regenerate after a second time period (e.g.,2 hours), while a third breadcrumb may not regenerate at all. Theregeneration rates are such that higher crime areas have a quickerregeneration rate.

A number of times to patrol an area during shift may be indicated via anumerical value in/on the breadcrumbs that decrement each time officerpatrols route. Additionally or alternatively, higher priority areas orareas with higher numerical patrol requirements may be drawn as largerbreadcrumbs or as darker/different color breadcrumbs.

Regeneration rates can also take into account time of day, day of theweek, as well as how many times other patrol officers have checked thearea earlier in the day, and vary the regeneration rate for the currentofficer's shift. An audible sound may be provided to the officer when abreadcrumb is regenerated, or a new breadcrumb is added.

Determining an area to incentivize by dropping breadcrumbs within thearea (i.e., provide someone with an incentive for traveling within thearea by dropping breadcrumbs within the area) may be as simple asdetermining a patrol area assigned to an officer and droppingbreadcrumbs on all streets/paths/buildings within the patrol area. Thiswill provide the officer with incentive to travel down every streetwithin their assigned area at least once.

If high-crime areas are to be incentivized, an algorithm that processeshistorical incident data to create a heat map of incident hot spots maybe utilized to determine the area to incentivize. Incidents may compriseany event that is desired to be viewed or prevented by the officer. Forexample, incident hot spots may comprise crime hot spots, or trafficaccident hot spots, . . . , etc.

The creation of a heat map may be accomplished via a standard softwarepackage such as The Omega Group's CrimeView® desktop crime analysis andmapping solution. This incident data heat map is used to identify theparts of a city, building, or other areas that have a high probabilityof future incidents (with the assumption that past incident data is anindicator of likely future incidents of a similar type). The parts of acity, building, or other areas may be incentivized by droppingbreadcrumbs along roads and pathways that travel through the parts ofthe city, building, or other areas identified as a hot spot.

The incident heat map may vary depending on time of day, time of year,and environmental factors such as weather conditions and the like. Armedwith the knowledge of where, when, and under what conditions futureincidents are likely to occur, the locations of increased incidentactivity within the heat map are correlated with the incentivized areaprovided to a given officer. An Incentivized area is then constructedover some time period (i.e., a shift), such that for a given time, date,and environmental conditions, areas with increased incident activity aremore frequently observed by the officer because they are incentivizedwith breadcrumbs placed in those areas. Incident hot spots may berecalculated after a predetermined period of time, for example, on anhourly, daily, weekly, or monthly schedule.

Dropping breadcrumbs as described above will incentivize travel throughan area, providing an improved chance of observing future incidents bythe officer (or deterring incidents from happening in the first place).For example, Bar A (in the Eastern portion of a officer's patrol area)closes at 2 AM each night and historical incident data indicate asignificant increase in the rate of assault and battery cases in thevicinity between 2 to 3 AM on Fridays and Saturdays. Bar B (in theWestern portion of the officer's patrol area) closes at 3 AM each nightand historical incident data indicate a similar increase in crime in thevicinity between 3 to 4 AM on Fridays and Saturdays. Using thisinformation, an incentivized area may be determined for the officer. Inthis example, the officer's Incentivized area may cause the officer topass by of Bar A from 2 to 3 AM and to pass by Bar B from 3 to 4 AM onFridays and Saturdays.

It should be noted that the above technique does not provide aparticular route to the officer. Instead, certain areas are incentivizedby dropping breadcrumbs in the area on roads/paths that may be travelledby the officer. The breadcrumbs may be picked up by traveling any numberof routes through the area, by, for example traveling within a certaindistance (e.g., 10 feet) of the bread crumb. It should also be notedthat multiple officer's locations can be tracked and the breadcrumbs maybe picked up when any officer travels near them. Thus, there could betwo or more officers patrolling the area and both will be incentivizedas described above.

If the historical incident data shows additional correlation beyonddate, time, or season to more complex environmental factors such asweather patterns, moon phase, etc., a more dynamic Incentivized area canbe constructed accordingly. For example, historical incident data mayindicate a higher incidence of traffic accidents at a particularintersection on rainy nights. As such, if a weather forecast calls forrain during the nighttime hours, the officer's Incentivized area couldbe automatically updated to incentivize travelling near the intersectionin question. This update may happen in advance based on a weatherforecast, or it may happen automatically upon detection of rainfall.

Prior to describing the system shown for accomplishing the above, thefollowing definitions are provided to set the necessary background forutilization of the present invention.

Incident Heat Map: A map generated by analyzing historical Incident dataindicating the relative density of incidents across a geographical area.Areas with a higher density of incidents are typically referred to as‘hot’ (and often visually displayed with shades of red) and areas withlow incident density are referred to as ‘cold’ (and often visuallydisplayed with shades of blue). Prior to rendering an incident heat map,the incident data may be filtered based on any number of attributes. Forexample, circuitry could build an incident heat map depicting onlyviolent crime over the past month.

Incident Data—A record of incidents. typically, at a minimum, thelocation, type, severity, and date/time attributes of the incident arerecorded. Additional environmental factors may also be recorded (e.g.,the weather at the time of the incident, etc). Examples of incident datainclude, for example, crime data, traffic accident data, weatherphenomena, and/or individual schedules (e.g., a mayor's schedule).

Breadcrumbs—Any digital object (dot, square, circle, shape, . . . ,etc.) that is placed on or near a digital road or pathway, or structurethat may be travelled by an officer within a vehicle or on foot. Forexample, a dot may be place on a road, and displayed on a digital mapprovided to the officer. Once an officer travels over the dot, the dotmay disappear. The purpose of these dots is to indicate areas that needto be patrolled.

Officer Patrol area—The spatial area that a given officer is assigned topatrol.

Incentivized Area—An area, that may be part of the officer-patrol areathat is incentivized by placing breadcrumbs on roads and paths thatexist within the incentivized area. The incentive for traveling withinthe area is created by the officer desiring to pick up the breadcrumbswithin the area. The incentivized area may be a portion of the officerpatrol area.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, a point value may begiven to an officer every time a breadcrumb is picked up. An officer'spoint total can be determined and incentives may be provided to thoseofficers with consistently high point totals. For example, if bothofficer Smith and officer Jones are provided with 1000 breadcrumbsduring a shift, and officer Smith consistently picks up an average of700 breadcrumbs per shift, while officer Jones only picks up an averageof 300 breadcrumbs per shift, officer Smith may be awarded with a betterperformance review, merit award, incentive pay, . . . , etc. Inaddition, a merit award system may be employed where an officer's bonusmay be based on how many breadcrumbs were picked up during a period oftime.

Turning now to the drawings wherein like numerals designate likecomponents, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a general operationalenvironment 100 for employment of the present invention. Environment 100may comprise an area assigned to officer 102 for patrolling. Patrollingmay take place with officer 102 driving public-safety vehicle 104 (inthis example, an automobile) through area 100.

Devices 103 and 110 are in communication with dispatch center 101(serving as breadcrumb generator 101) through intervening network 106.

Public-safety vehicle 104 may comprise such vehicles as a bicycle,automobile, rescue vehicles, ladder trucks, ambulances, police cars,fire engines, . . . , etc. Vehicle 104 may be equipped withcommunication equipment that allows communication over network 106.Devices 103, 110 can be any portable electronic device including but notlimited to a standalone display or monitor, a handheld computer, atablet computer, a mobile phone, a police radio, a media player, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a GPS receiver, or the like, includinga combination of two or more of these items.

Network 106 may comprise one of any number of over-the-air or wirednetworks. For example network 106 may comprise a private 802.11 networkset up by a building operator, a next-generation cellular communicationsnetwork operated by a cellular service provider, or any public-safetynetwork such as an APCO 25 network. Network 106 usually comprisesseveral base station 120 that can receive information (either control ormedia, e.g., data, voice (audio), video, etc.) in a signal from vehicle104 and devices 103, 110. Base station 120 can also transmit informationin signals to one or more vehicles 104 and/or device 103, 110.

Area 100 may be depicted/displayed on devices 103, 110 (or any otherdevice associated with officer 102) along with a current location ofofficer 102 (as determined by any device associated with officer 102).The actual content displayed on devices 103, 110 may be similar to thatshown in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, location 202 of officer 102 is illustrated, alongwith a street map, preferably showing the officer's patrol area. Asdiscussed above, there may exist areas in which one may want toincentivize officer 102 to patrol more frequently. For example, area 201may have been identified as having a higher incidence of crime. In orderto incentivize officer 102 to travel through area 201, breadcrumbs 203may be placed on roads/paths through area 201. When officer 102 travelsto within a predetermined distance of any breadcrumb, the breadcrumbwill be removed from display 200. This is illustrated in FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, screen 301 shows location 202 of officer 102 at afirst point in time traveling on an unlabeled road. As is evident, thereexists a plurality of breadcrumbs 203 (only one labeled) on variousroads. Screen 302 shows location 202 of officer 102 at a second point intime, having traveled near/over various breadcrumbs. As is evident, thebreadcrumbs that were traveled over/near have been removed from screen302.

As discussed above, the removed breadcrumbs may regenerate. Theregeneration rate may be based on historic crime activity and/orcommander-designated regeneration times for that area 201. More than onearea 201 may exist and these areas may also be assigned a priority (forexample, by having different types of breadcrumbs) and determine howmany times during a shift the user should patrol these routes and FocusAreas.

A number of times to patrol an area during shift may be indicated via anumerical indicator (not shown) in, or near the breadcrumbs thatdecrement each time officer patrols route and dots temporarilydisappear. Additionally or alternatively, higher priority areas or areaswith higher numerical patrol requirements may be drawn as largerbreadcrumbs or as shaded/different color breadcrumbs.

Regeneration rates can also take into account time of day, day of theweek, as well as how many times other patrol officers have checked thearea earlier in the day, and vary the regeneration rate for the currentofficer's shift. An audible sound may be provided to the officer when abreadcrumb is regenerated, or a new breadcrumb is added.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a breadcrumb generator 101. As discussedabove, breadcrumb generator may exist as a stand-alone piece ofhardware, or alternatively, as part of a dispatch center. As shown,generator 101 may include transmitter 401, receiver 402, graphical-userinterface (GUI) 405, logic circuitry 403, and memory 404. In otherimplementations, generator 101 may include more, fewer, or differentcomponents.

Transmitter 401 and receiver 402 are preferably wireless, and may belong-range and/or short-range transceivers that utilize a private 802.11network set up by a building operator, a next-generation cellularcommunications network operated by a cellular service provider, or anypublic-safety network such as an APCO 25 network or the FirstNetbroadband network. Transmitter 401 and receiver 402 may also containmultiple transmitters and receivers, to support multiple communicationsprotocols simultaneously.

GUI 405 may include a device that can display maps and breadcrumbs asimages on a screen (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), organiclight-emitting diode (OLED) display, surface-conduction electro-emitterdisplay (SED), plasma display, field emission display (FED), bistabledisplay, projection display, laser projection, holographic display,etc.).

Logic circuitry 403 comprises a digital signal processor (DSP), generalpurpose microprocessor, a programmable logic device, or applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC) and is utilized to generatebreadcrumbs and transmit them to an officer's device

Memory 404 comprises standard random-access memory, and is used to storeinformation such as, but not limited to maps, incident data, heat maps,officer assigned areas, bread crumb positions, breadcrumb status (pickedup or not), . . . , etc.

The device shown in FIG. 4 provides for an apparatus comprising amicroprocessor that determines an area having an incident of interestmost likely to occur, and determines an area assigned to an officer topatrol. A transmitter is provided for transmitting electronicbreadcrumbs to the officer. As discussed above, the electronicbreadcrumbs are placed on an electronic map within the area assigned tothe officer to patrol, and the electronic breadcrumbs disappear from theelectronic map when the officer travels near the electronic breadcrumbs.Additionally, the area having the incident of interest most likely tooccur is determined by analyzing data of past incidents, and generatingan incident heat map.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a display device, for example, device 103or 110. As shown, the device may include transmitter 501, receiver 502,display 506, logic circuitry 503, memory 504, and context-awarecircuitry 511. In other implementations, the device may include more,fewer, or different components.

Transmitter 501 and receiver 502 may be well known long-range and/orshort-range transceivers that utilize a private 802.11 network set up bya building operator, a next-generation cellular communications networkoperated by a cellular service provider, or any public-safety networksuch as an APCO 25 network or the FirstNet broadband network.Transmitter 501 and receiver 502 may also contain multiple transmittersand receivers, to support multiple communications protocolssimultaneously.

Display 506 may include a device that can display images/video generatedby camera 202 as images on a screen (e.g., a liquid crystal display(LCD), organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, surface-conductionelectro-emitter display (SED), plasma display, field emission display(FED), bistable display, projection display, laser projection,holographic display, etc.). In a similar manner, display 506 displaysmaps and breadcrumbs as discussed.

Logic circuitry 403 comprises a digital signal processor (DSP), generalpurpose microprocessor, a programmable logic device, or applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC) and is utilized to receivebreadcrumbs and cause them to be displayed and picked up as describedherein.

Context-aware circuitry 511 may comprise any device capable ofgenerating an estimated location for the device. For example,context-aware circuitry 511 may comprise a GPS receiver capable ofdetermining a geographic location.

The device shown in FIG. 5 provided for a receiver receiving locationsfor electronic breadcrumbs, wherein the electronic breadcrumbs areplaced on an electronic map within an area assigned to an officer topatrol, and the electronic breadcrumbs disappear from the electronic mapwhen the officer travels near the electronic breadcrumbs. Agraphical-user interface is provided for displaying the breadcrumbs onthe electronic map, and location-finding circuitry is provided fordetermining a location of the device. A microprocessor is provided fordetermining that the location of the device is within a predetermineddistance from a breadcrumb and removing the breadcrumb from thegraphical user interface.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing operation of the breadcrumb generator ofFIG. 4. More particularly, FIG. 6 shows those steps (not all of whichare necessary) for incentivizing an officer to travel within aparticular area. The logic flow begins at step 601 where microprocessor403 determines an area having an incident of interest most likely tooccur. As discussed above, this determination may be based on a crimeheat map, which may be stored in memory 404. In an alternate embodimentof the present invention, logic circuitry 403 may generate the crimeheat map, or simply determine high-crime areas by analyzing incidentdata stored in memory 404.

At step 603 logic circuitry determines an area assigned to an officer topatrol. Patrol areas are preferably stored in memory 404 oralternatively may be provided to logic circuitry 403 via a user inputvia GUI 405. At step 605 logic circuitry 403 determines the locationsfor breadcrumbs. As discussed above, the locations for the bread crumbsare preferably within or near the area having the incident of interestmost likely to occur. Finally, at step 607, logic circuitry 403instructs transmitter 401 to transmit the locations of the breadcrumbsto the officer.

As discussed above, the electronic breadcrumbs are placed on anelectronic map within the area assigned to the officer to patrol, andthe electronic breadcrumbs disappear from the electronic map when theofficer travels near the electronic breadcrumbs.

As discussed above, the step of determining where the incident is mostlikely to occur may comprise determining where a crime is most likely tooccur by receiving historical crime data and determining the area havingthe crime most likely to occur based on the historical crime data.

Additionally, as discussed, logic circuitry 403 may determine that apredetermined period of time has passed and again use the transmitter totransmit more electronic breadcrumbs to the officer, where theelectronic breadcrumbs are again placed on the electronic map within thearea assigned to the officer to patrol.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing operation of a device of FIG. 5. Thelogic flow begins at step 701 where receiver 502 receives locations forelectronic breadcrumbs. The locations are passed to display 506 wheredisplay 506 displays the breadcrumbs on the electronic map (step 703).At step 705 location-finding circuitry 511 determines a location of thedevice and at step 707 microprocessor determines that the location ofthe device is within a predetermined distance from a breadcrumb. At step709 logic circuitry 503 accesses display 506 and removes the breadcrumbfrom the display.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have beendescribed. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. For example,whenever a breadcrumb is removed from a map, the device 103, 110 mayconvey this information to the breadcrumb generator via transmitter 501.The breadcrumb generator receives this information via receiver 402 andmay store this information and use it in making determinations onwhether or not to replace a particular breadcrumb. For example,instructions to regenerate a breadcrumb may not be given if the breadcrumb has not been previously removed or passed by. Accordingly, thespecification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to beincluded within the scope of present teachings.

Those skilled in the art will further recognize that references tospecific implementation embodiments such as “circuitry” may equally beaccomplished via either on general purpose computing apparatus (e.g.,CPU) or specialized processing apparatus (e.g., DSP) executing softwareinstructions stored in non-transitory computer-readable memory. It willalso be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have theordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressionsby persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above exceptwhere different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) thatmay cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is definedsolely by the appended claims including any amendments made during thependency of this application and all equivalents of those claims asissued.

Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second,top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish oneentity or action from another entity or action without necessarilyrequiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between suchentities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”,“having,” “includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any othervariation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, suchthat a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has,includes, contains a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by“comprises . . . a”, “has . . . a”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . .a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence ofadditional identical elements in the process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms“a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly statedotherwise herein. The terms “substantially”, “essentially”,“approximately”, “about” or any other version thereof, are defined asbeing close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and inone non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, inanother embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and inanother embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein isdefined as connected, although not necessarily directly and notnecessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” ina certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also beconfigured in ways that are not listed.

It will be appreciated that some embodiments may be comprised of one ormore generic or specialized processors (or “processing devices”) such asmicroprocessors, digital signal processors, customized processors andfield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and unique stored programinstructions (including both software and firmware) that control the oneor more processors to implement, in conjunction with certainnon-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of themethod and/or apparatus described herein. Alternatively, some or allfunctions could be implemented by a state machine that has no storedprogram instructions, or in one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certainof the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, acombination of the two approaches could be used.

Moreover, an embodiment can be implemented as a computer-readablestorage medium having computer readable code stored thereon forprogramming a computer (e.g., comprising a processor) to perform amethod as described and claimed herein. Examples of suchcomputer-readable storage mediums include, but are not limited to, ahard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storagedevice, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read OnlyMemory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM(Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flashmemory. Further, it is expected that one of ordinary skill,notwithstanding possibly significant effort and many design choicesmotivated by, for example, available time, current technology, andeconomic considerations, when guided by the concepts and principlesdisclosed herein will be readily capable of generating such softwareinstructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method to incentivize an officer to travelwithin an area, the method comprising the steps of: receiving via awireless receiver, locations for electronic breadcrumbs, wherein theelectronic breadcrumbs are placed on an electronic map within the areaassigned to the officer to patrol, and the electronic breadcrumbsdisappear from the electronic map when the officer travels near theelectronic breadcrumbs; displaying on a display device, the breadcrumbson the electronic map; determining by location-finding circuitry, alocation of a device; determining by a microprocessor that the locationof the device is within a predetermined distance from a breadcrumb; andremoving the breadcrumb from the display device; regenerating thebreadcrumbs after a predetermined period of time, and wherein thepredetermined period of time is based on the historic crime data.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the breadcrumbs are placed in an area having acrime most likely to occur.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein a numericalvalue exists on each breadcrumb, and wherein the numerical valuerepresents a number of times the officer is to travel past thebreadcrumb during a shift.
 4. An apparatus comprising: a receiverreceiving locations for electronic breadcrumbs, wherein the electronicbreadcrumbs are placed on an electronic map within an area assigned toan officer to patrol, and the electronic breadcrumbs disappear from theelectronic map when the officer travels near the electronic breadcrumbs;a graphical-user interface displaying the breadcrumbs on the electronicmap; location-finding circuitry determining a location of a device; anda microprocessor determining that the location of the device is within apredetermined distance from a breadcrumb and removing the breadcrumbfrom the graphical user interface; regenerating the breadcrumbs after apredetermined period of time, and wherein the predetermined period oftime is based on the historic crime data.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4wherein the breadcrumbs are placed in an area having a crime most likelyto occur.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein a numerical value existson a breadcrumb, and wherein the numerical value represents a number oftimes an officer is to travel past the breadcrumb during a shift.